Method and apparatus for providing data in edge computing system

ABSTRACT

A method of relocating application context by an edge enabler client (EEC) in an edge computing system includes determining whether the application context should be relocated based on at least one piece of location information of a user equipment (UE) including the EEC and service area information for an edge data network (EDN), an edge enabler server (EES), or an edge application server, transmitting a context relocation request to a source edge enabler server (S-EES), based on the determination, receiving a context relocation response message indicating completion of the context relocation from the source edge enabler server, and rerouting application data traffic, based on the context relocation response message.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 toKorean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0104048, filed on Aug. 23, 2019,in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to an apparatus and a methodfor providing a service in an edge computing system and particularly toan apparatus and a method for continuously providing a service to anelectronic device in an edge computing system.

2. Description of Related Art

In order to use a low-delay or broadband service in an edge computingsystem, a terminal may establish a data connection to an edge datanetwork (EDN) located close to the terminal. Further, in the edgecomputing system, the terminal may receive a data service by accessingan application server executed in an edge hosting environment or an edgecomputing platform operated by an edge enabler server (EES) of thecorresponding EDN.

The terminal which desires to access the edge computing system may be amobile communication terminal receiving a mobile communication service.The mobile communication terminal may access the EDN through the mobilecommunication network and may receive a service from a specific edgeapplication server operated by an EES of the corresponding EDN. Themobile communication terminal should be able to move without any specialrestraints, and the service should be continuously provided. The mobilecommunication terminal may move from a first EDN area to a second EDNarea. Even in this case, the service should be continuously provided tothe mobile communication terminal in the edge computing system. However,a method of continuously providing the service when the EDN is changeddue to movement of the mobile communication terminal has not yet beensuggested.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure has been made to address at least thedisadvantages described above and to provide at least the advantagesdescribed below.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofrelocating application context by an edge enabler client (EEC) in anedge computing system is provided. The method includes determiningwhether the application context should be relocated based on at leastone piece of location information of a user equipment (UE) including theEEC and service area information for an EDN, an EES, or an edgeapplication server, transmitting a context relocation request to asource edge enabler server (S-EES), based on the determination,receiving a context relocation response message indicating completion ofthe context relocation from the source edge enabler server, andrerouting application data traffic, based on the context relocationresponse message.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a UE forrelocating application context in an edge computing system is provided.The UE includes one or more edge application clients configured toperform a client function of a service in an edge computing system, anEEC configured to provide an edge computing service to the one or moreedge application clients, and a mobile terminal (MT) configured tocommunicate with the edge computing system through a mobilecommunication network. The EEC is configured to determine whether theapplication context should be relocated based on at least one piece oflocation information of the UE including the EEC and service areainformation for an EDN, an EES, or an edge application server, transmita context relocation request to a source edge enabler server through theMT, based on the determination, receive a context relocation responsemessage indicating completion of the context relocation from the sourceedge enabler server through the MT, and reroute application datatraffic, based on the context relocation response message.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofrelocating application context for an application service provided to aUE by an S-EES in an edge computing system is provided. The methodincludes receiving a context relocation request for the applicationservice from an edge application client of the LIE, transmitting theapplication context relocation request to a target edge enabler server(T-EES), receiving an application context relocation response includingtarget edge application server (T-EAS) information from the T-EES,transmitting an application context relocation command including theT-EAS information to an source edge application server (S-EAS) providingthe application service to the UE, transmitting the application contextto the T-EAS through the T-EES when the application context is receivedfrom the S-EAS, and transmitting a context relocation completionnotification to an EEC of the UE when the application context relocationcompletion notification is received from the S-EAS.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofrelocating application context for an application service provided to aUE by an S-EAS in an edge computing system is provided. The methodincludes receiving an application context relocation command for anapplication provided to the UE from an S-EES, the context relocationcommand including T-EAS information, transmitting the applicationcontext for the application service to the T-EAS through the S-EES, andtransmitting a context relocation completion notification to the S-EES.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofrelocating application context for an application service provided to aUE by a target edge application server in an edge computing system. Themethod includes receiving a first application context relocation requestfor the UE from an S-EES, determining a T-EAS, based on the receivedfirst application context relocation request for the LIE, transmitting asecond application context relocation request for the UE to thedetermined T-EAS, receiving an application context relocation responsefrom the T-EAS, and transmitting the application context relocationresponse to the S-EES.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofrelocating application context for an application client by a UE havingthe application client and an EEC in an edge computing system isprovided. The method includes determining whether the applicationcontext should be relocated, determining a T-EES ID when applicationcontext relocation is needed, transmitting a context relocation requestincluding S-EAS information to a T-EES, based on the determination, andreceiving a response from the T-EES.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a UE forrelocating application context in an edge computing system is provided.The UE includes one or more edge application clients configured toperform a client function of a service in the edge computing system, anEEC configured to provide an edge computing service to the one or moreapplication clients, and an MT configured to communicate with the edgecomputing system through a mobile communication network. The applicationclient is configured to determine whether the application context shouldbe relocated. The EEC is configured to determine a T-EES ID whenapplication context relocation is needed, transmit a context relocationrequest to the T-EES through the MT, based on the determination, andreceive response information from the T-EES.

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure, a method ofrelocating application context for an application service provided to aUE from a T-EES in an edge computing system is provided. The methodincludes receiving a first context relocation request including S-EASinformation from an EEC of the UE, transmitting a second contextrelocation request including UE information to a T-EAS for providing anapplication, transmitting a third context relocation request to an S-EESwhen a response corresponding to approval of the relocation is receivedfrom the T-EAS, receiving a response to the third context relocationrequest from the S-EES, transmitting received application context to theT-EAS when the application context is received from the S-EES, andtransmitting a context relocation response to the EEC.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of certainembodiments of the disclosure will be more apparent from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a connection to a 3GPP network and anedge computing system network and movement of a terminal, according toan embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates an interaction between an EEC and a communicationlayer within a user device and a mutual connection with an edgecomputing system through a 3GPP network, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3A is a signal flowchart illustrating a process in which the targetedge enabler indicates the relocation of the application to the S-EAS,according to an embodiment;

FIG. 3B is a signal flowchart illustrating a process in which an S-EAStransmits an application context relocation complete notification to auser device, according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process in which an S-EESrelocates application context in an S-EAS, according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the disclosure will be described herein below withreference to the accompanying drawings. However, the embodiments of thedisclosure are not limited to the specific embodiments and should beconstrued as including all modifications, changes, equivalent devicesand methods, and/or alternative embodiments of the present disclosure.In the description of the drawings, similar reference numerals are usedfor similar elements.

The terms “have,” “may have,” “include,” and “may include” as usedherein indicate the presence of corresponding features (for example,elements such as numerical values, functions, operations, or parts), anddo not preclude the presence of additional features.

The terms “A or B,” “at least one of A or/and B,” or “one or more of Aor/and B” as used herein include all possible combinations of itemsenumerated with them. For example, “A or B,” “at least one of A and B,”or “at least one of A or B” means (1) including at least one A, (2)including at least one B, or (3) including both at least one A and atleast one B.

The terms such as “first” and “second” as used herein may usecorresponding components regardless of importance or an order and areused to distinguish a component from another without limiting thecomponents. These terms may be used for the purpose of distinguishingone element from another element. For example, a first user device and asecond user device indicates different user devices regardless of theorder or importance. For example, a first element may be referred to asa second element without departing from the scope the disclosure, andsimilarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element.

It will be understood that, when an element (for example, a firstelement) is “(operatively or communicatively) coupled with/to” or“connected to” another element (for example, a second element), theelement may be directly coupled with/to another element, and there maybe an intervening element (for example, a third element) between theelement and another element. To the contrary, it will be understoodthat, when an element (for example, a first element) is “directlycoupled with/to” or “directly connected to” another element (forexample, a second element), there is no intervening element (forexample, a third element) between the element and another element.

The expression “configured to (or set to)” as used herein may be usedinterchangeably with “suitable for,” “having the capacity to,” “designedto,” “adapted to,” “made to,” or “capable of” according to a context.The term “configured to (set to)” does not necessarily mean“specifically designed to” in a hardware level. Instead, the expression“apparatus configured to . . . ” may mean that the apparatus is “capableof . . . ” along with other devices or parts in a certain context. Forexample, “a processor configured to (set to) perform A, B, and C” maymean a dedicated processor (e.g., an embedded processor) for performinga corresponding operation, or a generic-purpose processor (e.g., acentral processing unit (CPU) or an application processor (AP)) capableof performing a, corresponding operation by executing one or moresoftware programs stored in a device.

The terms used in describing the various embodiments of the disclosureare for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and are notintended to limit the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. All of the terms used herein including technical orscientific terms have the same meanings as those generally understood byan ordinary skilled person in the related art unless they are definedotherwise. Terms defined in a generally used dictionary should beinterpreted as having the same or similar meanings as the contextualmeanings of the relevant technology and should not be interpreted ashaving ideal or exaggerated meanings unless they are clearly definedherein. According to circumstances, even the terms defined in thisdisclosure should not be interpreted as excluding the embodiments of thedisclosure.

The term “module” as used herein may, for example, mean a unit includingone of hardware, software, and firmware or a combination of two or moreof them. The “module” may be interchangeably used with, for example, theterm “unit”, “logic”, “logical block”, “component”, or “circuit”. The“module” may be a minimum unit of an integrated component element or apart thereof. The “module” may be a minimum unit for performing one ormore functions or a part thereof. The “module” may be mechanically orelectronically implemented. For example, the “module” according to thedisclosure may include at least one of an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC) chip, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA),and a programmable-logic device for performing operations which has beenknown or are to be developed hereinafter.

An electronic device according to the disclosure may include at leastone of, for example, a smart phone, a tablet personal computer (PC), amobile phone, a video phone, an electronic book reader e-book reader), adesktop PC, a laptop PC, a netbook computer, a workstation, a server, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a portable multimedia player (PMP), aMPEG-1 audio layer-3 (MP3) player, a mobile medical device, a camera,and a wearable device. The wearable device may include at least one ofan accessory type (e.g., a watch, a ring, a bracelet, an anklet, anecklace, a glasses, a contact lens, or a head-mounted device (HMD)), afabric or clothing integrated type (e.g., an electronic clothing), abody-mounted type (e.g., a skin pad, or tattoo), and a bio-implantabletype (e.g., an implantable circuit).

The electronic device may be a home appliance. The home appliance mayinclude at least one of, for example, a television, a digital video disk(DVD) player, an audio, a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a vacuumcleaner, an oven, a microwave oven, a washing machine, an air cleaner, aset-top box, a home automation control panel, a security control panel,a TV box (e.g., Samsung HomeSync™, Apple TV™, or Google TV™) a gameconsole (e.g., Xbox™ and PlayStation™), an electronic dictionary, anelectronic key, a camcorder, and an electronic photo frame.

The electronic device may include at least one of various medicaldevices (e.g., various portable medical measuring devices (a bloodglucose monitoring device, a heart rate monitoring device, a bloodpressure measuring device, a body temperature measuring device, etc.), amagnetic resonance angiography (MRA), a magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), a computed tomography (CT) machine, and an ultrasonic machine), anavigation device, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, an eventdata recorder (EDR), a flight data recorder (FDR), a vehicleinfotainment device, an electronic device for a ship (e.g., a navigationdevice for a ship, and a gyro-compass avionics, security devices, anautomotive head unit, a robot for home or industry, an automatic tellermachine (ATM) in banks, point of sales (POS) devices in a shop, or anInternet of things (IoT) device (e.g., a light bulb, various sensors,electric or gas meter, a sprinkler device, a fire alarm, a thermostat, astreetlamp, a toaster, a sporting goods, a hot water tank, a heater, aboiler, etc.).

The electronic device may include at least one of a part of furniture ora building/structure, an electronic board, an electronic signaturereceiving device, a projector, and various kinds of measuringinstruments a water meter, an electric meter, a gas meter, and a radiowave meter). The electronic device may be a combination of one or moreof the aforementioned various devices. The electronic device may also bea flexible device. Further, the electronic device is not limited to theaforementioned devices, and may include an electronic device accordingto the development of new technology.

Hereinafter, an electronic device will be described with reference tothe accompanying drawings. In the disclosure, the term “user” indicatesa person using an electronic device or a device (e.g., an artificialintelligence electronic device) using an electronic device.

The terms referring to a network entity and entities of an edgecomputing system used in the disclosure, the terms referring tomessages, and terms referring to identification information aredescribed for convenience of description. Therefore, the disclosure maynot be limited by the terminologies provided below, and other terms thatindicate subjects having equivalent technical meanings may be used.

For convenience of description, the disclosure uses terms and namesdefined in a 5G system standard but is not limited to the terms and thenames, and may be equally applied to a system following anotherstandard.

Hereinafter, the disclosure describes a method of performing theapplication context relocation between edge application servers. In theedge computing system, a change in an edge application service providingan edge computing service to a terminal, that is, a mobile communicationterminal may be needed. For example, the change may be needed when themobile communication terminal moves from a specific data network toanother data network or when the mobile communication terminal shouldaccess another data network from the specific data network due to achange in a wireless environment. In this case, a method of transmittingapplication context to a target edge application service that newlyprovides the service from a S-EAS that originally provides the servicewill be described below. Further, when the edge application server ischanged, a method of detecting a need for the change and a method ofselecting a new target edge application service will be described below.In addition, a procedure in which application context relocation isperformed from the S-EAS that originally provides the service to thetarget application server on the basis of selection of the T-EAS will bedescribed.

The disclosure describes in more detail a method of preserving servicecontinuity. Specifically, the disclosure describes:

(1) How to detect the need to reroute traffic from the serving edgeapplication server instance to the T-EAS.

(2) How to enable the required switch in the connection between theapplication client and the edge application server while preservingservice continuity.

(3) How to transfer any required context between edge applicationservers within the EDN.

(4) How to transfer any required context from the serving edgeapplication server to the T-EAS (or server) regardless of theirlocation: in the same EDN, in a different EDN or in the cloud.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a connection to a 3GPP network and anedge computing system network and movement of a terminal, according toan embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a service area 1 of a mobile network operator isillustrated. The service area 1 of the mobile network operator mayinclude EDNs divided to provide edge computing services to electronicdevices. Each EDN may have areas 10 and 20 for providing an edgecomputing service to an electronic device. FIG. 1 illustrates the casein which the service area 10 of the first EDN includes a first basestation (BS) 111, a second BS 112, a third BS 113, and a fourth BS 114and the service area 20 of the second EDN includes a fifth BS 211 and asixth BS 212.

The service area 10 of the first EDN including the first BS 111 to thefourth BS 114 includes two different user plane functions (UPFs) 121 and122. Further, the service area 20 has only one user plane function 221.The EDN may have one or more UPFs.

The service area 10 of the first EDN may be an area configured by oneedge enabler server 100, The service area 20 of the second EDN may be anarea configured by another edge enabler server 200. As described above,the service areas 10 and 20 of the EDNs may be configured as areas whichcan be managed by the edge enabler servers 100 and 200.

As illustrated in the example of FIG. 1, the edge enabler servers 100and 200 may be connected to or may include the same or different edgeapplication servers 101, 102, and 201, The first edge applicationservers 101 and 201 and the second edge application server 102 mayprovide different edge computing services. The first application server201 located in the service area 20 of the second EDN that provides thesame service as the first edge application server 101 located in theservice area 10 of the first EDN may provide the edge computing serviceto an electronic device 50 through different edge enabler servers 100and 200. The first edge application server 101 located in the servicearea 10 of the first EDN may provide the edge computing service to theelectronic device 50 accessing one of the BSs 111, 112, 113, and 114located in the first EDN. The second edge application server 102 mayprovide the edge computing service to the electronic device 50 accessingone of the BSs 111, 112, 113, and 114 located in the first EDN.

The electronic device 50 may receive the edge computing service and maybe a terminal which can access a mobile communication network through awireless network. The electronic device 50 may include variouselectronic devices which can move such as a smartphone, a tabletcomputer, a smart watch, a game device, a vehicle, a motorcycle, abicycle, an airplane, and a ship and/or various types of electronicdevices capable of providing an IoT service. The electronic device 50may install at least one edge computing service application 53 accordingto the disclosure, and may include an EEC 52 and an MT 51 performing awireless communication function, for example, a communication layer.

The installation of the edge computing service application may mean thatan application for receiving the edge computing service may be installed(or stored) in a memory of the electronic device 50. Further, theinstallation of the edge computing service application may mean that anoperation for loading the application installed in the electronic device50 in at least one processor to provide the edge computing service isperformed.

The EEC 52 may be installed in the memory of the electronic device 50installing the application for receiving the edge computing service.Further, the EEC 52 may be loaded to at least one processor instead ofthe installed application and perform at least some of the operationsrequired by the edge computing service application.

The MT 51 may include a communication layer capable of communicatingwith a specific wireless communication network, for example, a 3GPPcommunication network through a preset scheme. The communication layermay include at least one communication processor and/or a model, andinclude logic and at least one antenna for transmitting and receiving awireless signal.

Hereinafter, the electronic device 50 is referred to as a UE forconvenience of description. Layers or elements within the user device 50may have interfaces for mutually exchanging information/data.

The BSs 111, 112, 113, 114, 211, and 212 have predetermined areas forcommunicating with the user device through a preset wirelesscommunication scheme. When the wireless communication scheme is a schemeof a 3GPP mobile communication network, the BSs 111, 112, 113, 114, 211,212 may be BSs of the 3GPP mobile communication network.

The UPFs 121, 122, and 221 may serve as gateways to and from which theuser device transmits and receives packets. The UPFs 121, 122, and 221may be located physically and/or logically close to the edge enablerservers 100 and 200 in order to support the edge computing service. Byconfiguring the UPFs 121, 122, and 221 to be located physically and/orlogically close to the edge enabler servers 100 and 200, it is possibleto directly transmit data packets, to be provided to the user (orreceived from the user), to the EDN without passing through theInternet, thereby reducing transmission. That is, low-delay transmissionis possible. The UM 121, 122, and 221 may be connected to the edgeenabler servers 100 and 200 through a data network connected by theInternet.

According to an embodiment, the edge computing system may include edgeenabler servers 100 and 200, an EDN configuration server 30, and the EEC52. The edge enabler servers 100 and 200 may construct an edge hostingenvironment or an edge computing platform. The construction of the edgehosting environment or the edge computing platform may mean that theedge enabler server is connected to at least one edge application serveror at least one edge application server is being driven on a computingplatform of the edge enabler server. Accordingly, the edge enablerservers 100 and 200 may know information on the edge application serverwhich is being driven within the edge hosting environment or driven onthe edge computing platform.

According to various embodiments, the edge enabler server may negotiatewith the user device 50 and connect the application client 52 driven inthe user device 50 with the edge application server within the edgehosting environment. According to various embodiments, the user device50 supporting the edge computing system may have the EEC embedded orinstalled therein as described above. According to an embodiment,negotiation between the user device 50 and the edge application servermay be performed through mutual interworking between the EEC 52 withinthe user device 50 and the edge enabler servers 100 and 200. A layerperforming the mutual interworking between the EEC 52 and the edgeenabler servers 100 and 200 such as the negotiation may be an edgeenabling layer.

According to various embodiments, the EDN configuration server 30 mayknow deployment information of the edge enabler servers 100 and 200 andmay perform a function for transmitting configuration information to usethe edge computing service to the user device 50. The configurationinformation may include at least one piece of EDN connectioninformation, an EDN service area, and edge enabler server connectioninformation.

According to various embodiments, the EDN connection information mayinclude information, for example, a data network name and single-networkslice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI). According to variousembodiments, the EDN service area may be at least one of, for example, acell list, a tracking area list, and a network identifier of an operator(PLMN ID) or may include two or more thereof. According to variousembodiments, the edge enabler server connection information may be, forexample, a uniform resource identifier (URI).

According to various embodiments, the user device 50 may receiveinformation on an edge enabler server which the user device 50 canaccess from the EDN configuration server 30 on the basis of informationon a specific location, for example, a specific BS, a specific datanetwork, or a specific physical location. When the EDN configurationserver 30 is able to know information on an edge application serverwhich is being driven in an edge hosting environment of a specific edgeenabler server, the user device 50 may also acquire the correspondinginformation through the EEC 52.

According to various embodiments, the edge application servers 101, 102,and 201 may be third-party application servers driven within the edgecomputing system. According to an embodiment, the edge applicationservers 101, 102, and 201 may be third-party application servers drivenon infrastructure provided by the edge hosting environment, and mayprovide an ultra-low latency service since the service can be providedat a location close to the user device 50. According to variousembodiments, information on a higher layer provided from the edgeapplication server to the user device 50 may be referred to asapplication context. When the user uses a real-time game application,all pieces of information required for re-generating screens viewed bythe user and play stages within the current game may be included in theapplication context. In order to allow the user device 50 to seamlesslyuse the existing service through the connection to another edgeapplication server, the application context should be relocated in theedge application server in which the user device 50 will be newlyconnected. In order to relocate the application context, an edgeapplication service for providing the service to an application beingdriven in the application client 53 of the user device 50 should beavailable. Availability of the edge application server within the EDNmay be determined according to whether the edge application server isdriven within the edge hosting environment and a state of the edgeapplication server.

According to various embodiments, the user device 50 may include theapplication client 53, the EEC 52 for linking the application client 53with the edge computing service, and the MT 51 accessing the mobilecommunication system as described above. According to variousembodiments, the application of the user device 50 is an applicationprovided by a third party and corresponds to a client applicationexecuted within the user device 50 for a specific application service.Two or more applications may be executed within the user device 50.According to an embodiment, at least one of the applications may use amulti-access edge computing (MEC) service. The EEC 52 within the userdevice 50 may be a client performing an operation within the user device50 required for using the edge computing service. According to anembodiment, the EEC 52 may perform an operation for identifying whichapplication can use the edge computing service and connecting to thenetwork interface in order to transmit data of the application client ofthe user device 50 to the edge application server providing the edgecomputing service. According to an embodiment, the user device 50 mayconfigure a radio channel with the BS through the MT 51 to use the edgecomputing service. The configuration of the radio channel may beperformed by a communication layer of the MT 51, for example, a 3GPPcommunication layer. The communication layer of the MT 51 may serve toestablish a wireless connection for data communication, registering theuser device 50 in the mobile communication system, establishing aconnection for transmitting data to the mobile communication system, andtransmitting and receiving data.

As described above, the disclosure includes a method of relocatingapplication context between edge application servers for servicecontinuity in the edge computing system. As illustrated in FIG. 1, itmay be assumed that the user device 50 may access the first EDN 10 andprovide the edge computing service from the first edge applicationserver 101. In this case, when the user device 50 moves to the servicearea 20 of the second EDN, a change in the edge application server isneeded. A method of transmitting application context from the S-EAS tothe target application server is required. Further, a method ofdetecting a need of the change in the edge application server is alsorequired. In addition, a method of selecting a new edge applicationserver and a method of relocating application context from the sourceapplication server on the basis of the selection method are furtherrequired.

The method of determining the relocation of the application context mayneed intervention of a network function of the 3GPP system describedbelow. When the user device escapes an EDN service area, the sessionmanagement function (SMF) may detect a need of a change in a user plane(UP) path and transmit a UP path management event notification to thecorresponding edge application server. The edge application serverreceiving the UP path management event notification may recognize theneed for the relocation of application context and start a relevantprocedure.

However, in such a method, it is necessarily required to perform advancesubscription for the UP path management event notification service in anSMF of the 3GPP by the edge application service providing the service tothe user device. The user device may detect, in advance, the escapingfrom the EDN service area. However, the SMF of the 3GPP networks shouldrecognize a need for the relocation of application context and a methodof starting a relevant procedure should be recognized by the SMF.Further, the edge application server cannot start the relocation ofapplication context before receiving a notification from the SW, andthus a delay time may occur. In addition, overhead due to thesubscription may be generated whenever the edge application server isadded to provide a new edge application service. When a third-partyapplication service provider installs and drives the edge applicationserver rather than a network operator and an edge computing serviceprovider, a negotiation of a service level may be overhead.

In the disclosure, in order to rapidly relocate the application contextwithout the overhead, the user device should detect the need for therelocation of the application context and a method therefor should beprovided. Therefore, a method by which the user device detects escapingfrom the data network service area may be included. Further, a method bywhich the user device determines an EDN to be newly connected and isconnected to an edge enabler server and an edge application server ofthe corresponding EDN is needed.

Hereinafter, a method of determining a need for a relocation ofapplication context in an edge computing system and a method ofdetermining a target edge enabler/application server will be describedwith reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 illustrates an interaction between an EEC and a communicationlayer within a user device and a mutual connection with an edgecomputing system through a 3GPP network, according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 2, the user device 50 may have the same configurationas that of FIG. 1 described above.

According to various embodiments, a first EDN 110 may include a firstedge enabler server 100, and a first edge application server 101, asecond edge application server 102, and a third edge application server103 driven on an edge computing platform of the first edge enablerserver 100. Although FIG. 2 illustrates that three edge applicationservers are driven in the first EDN 110, the first data network 110 mayinclude more edge application servers or only one edge applicationserver. According to various embodiments, the second EDN 210 may includea second edge enabler server 200, and a first edge application server201 and a third edge application server 203 driven on an edge computingplatform of the second edge enabler server 200. Although FIG. 2illustrates that two edge application servers 201 and 203 are driven inthe second EDN 120, the second data network 120 may include more edgeapplication servers or only one edge application server.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the first edge application server101 driven on the edge computing platform of the first EDN 110 and thefirst edge application server 201 driven on the edge computing platformof the second EDN 210 may be edge application servers performing thesame function. When the first edge application server 101 driven on theedge computing platform of the first EDN 110 is an edge applicationserver for providing a first service, the first edge application server201 driven on the edge computing platform of the second EDN 210 may alsobe the edge application server for providing the first service.Similarly, when the third edge application server 103 driven on the edgecomputing platform of the first EDN 110 is an edge application serverfor providing a third service, the third edge application server 203driven on the edge computing platform of the second EDN 210 may also bethe edge application server for providing the third service.

The 3GPP network may configure a channel with the user terminal 50through at least one BS among a plurality of BSs (5G-(R)ANs), and maytransmit data to a user plane through a UPF. For the data of the userplane, a data path between the edge enabler server of the EDN and theuser terminal may be configured through the UPF. FIG. 2 assumes that theuser device 50 is connected to the first EDN 110 through the 3GPPnetwork 10.

The second EDN 210 is different from the first EDN 110 in that thesecond EDN 210 does not include the second edge application server. Asdescribed above, EDNs may have edge application servers having the samerespective functions. Further, there may be an edge application serverthat exists in a specific EDN but does not exist in a different EDN.

Each of the edge enabler servers 100 and 200 may access the EDNconfiguration server 30. The EDN configuration server 30 may be directlyconnected to the user device 50 through the 3GPP network.

The EEC 52 of the user device 50 may detect whether the MT 51 escapesthe EDN service area on the basis of UE location information of the 3GPPcommunication layer. The EEC 52 may determine (identify) a need of therelocation of application context according to the result of detection.

According to an exemplary embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 2, theenabler client 52 and the MT 51 may interact with each other, and theEEC 52 may identify whether the EEC 52 is within or escapes the EDNservice area on the basis of information on the EDN service area or theedge enabler server service area stored in the EDN configuration server30.

According to an embodiment, when it is determined that the EEC 52escapes the EDN service area, the EEC 52 may trigger the relocation ofthe application context.

Before escaping the EDN service area, the EEC 52 may detect apossibility of the escaping. In this case, the EEC 52 may trigger therelocation of the application context.

According to another embodiment, the EEC 52 may identify whether the EEC52 is within the EDN service area or escapes the EDN service area on thebasis of available location information within the user device 50without limiting the use of user device location (UE location)information of the MT 51.

According to various embodiments, when the edge application serverservice area matches the EDN service area, the user device 50 mayidentify the need for the relocation of application context to the EDNservice area.

According to various embodiments, when the service area of the edgeapplication server is limited to some of the EDN area, information onthe service area of the edge application server may be compared with theUE location and a need for the relocation of application context may beidentified. The information on the service area of the edge applicationserver may be stored in the edge enabler server and/or the EDNconfiguration server 30. The information on the service area of the edgeapplication server may be received from the EDN configuration server 30by the EEC 52 as initial configuration information. The information onthe service area of the edge application server may be acquired from theEDN configuration server 30 or from the edge enabler server through arequest when the EEC 52 needs the information.

According to various embodiments, information on a quality of servicefrom the MT 51 of the user device 50 or an application layer may beused, According to an embodiment, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 maydetect generation of a deterioration of a quality of service from the MT51 or an application layer and identify a need for the connection to theEDN providing a better quality of service and the relocation ofapplication context.

According to various embodiments, the MT 51 within the user device 50may know a quality of service of the currently connected EDN throughmutual interworking with the 3GPP network. Further, a quality of serviceexpected in the connection to another EDN may be known. The MT 51 withinthe user device 50 may know an expected quality of service through anetwork data analytics function.

According to various embodiments, an application layer may provide aquality of service of edge computing that can measure application levelthroughput (Goodput) to the EEC 52 and thus the EEC may use the same.

According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 may identify a need for therelocation of application context on the basis of availability of theedge application server and identify a target server.

According to various embodiments, when the S-EES cannot use the S-EAS,it may be determined that the relocation of application context isneeded.

According to an embodiment, when an edge application service which thetarget edge enabler service to which the application context istransmitted can provide to the application client of the user device 50is being executed or can be executed in an edge hosting environment, theEEC 52 may perform a procedure for relocating the application context.The availability information may be acquired from the edge enablerserver or the EDN configuration server 30.

FIG. 2 illustrates that the second edge enabler server 200 of the secondEDN 210 does not drive the second edge application server. In this case,the user device 50 may not directly relocate application context for thesecond application, After first identifying whether the second edgeapplication server can be driven, the second edge enabler server 200 mayprovide availability information of the second edge application serverto the EEC 52 or the EDN configuration server 30.

Hereinafter, procedures in which the user device 50 detects a need forthe relocation of application context and relocates the applicationcontext will be described. A subject providing a command for relocatingthe application context is a T-EES 200 or a S-EES 100, which will bedescribed with reference to two different embodiments.

FIG. 3A is a signal flowchart illustrating a process in which the targetedge enabler indicates the relocation of the application to the S-EAS,according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 may determinewhether there is a need for the relocation of application context atstep 300. According to various embodiments, a trigger subject may bedetermined as follows. However, the subject for triggering therelocation of application context is not limited to the EEC 52 in thedisclosure. The service area of the EDN and UE location information maybe used, and all entities within the user device 50 capable ofinterworking with the edge enabler server through an edge enabler layermay trigger the relocation of application context. The applicationclient 53 or the MT 51 may be configured to trigger the applicationcontext.

According to various embodiments, a method by which the EEC 52 withinthe user device 50 determines the need for the relocation of theapplication may be identified as follows.

In a first method, the need for the relocation may be determined throughcomparison between the EDN service and the UL location information.

When the user device escapes the data network service area, therelocation of application context may be triggered.

When movement possibility may be detected in advance before escapingfrom the EDN service area, the relocation of application context may betriggered.

When deterioration of a quality of service (QoS) of edge computing whichthe user device is receiving is detected, the need for the relocation ofapplication context may be determined and triggered. As described above,triggering the relocation of application context is to continuouslyreceive the service which is currently being provided from another edgeapplication server.

When the terminal 51 recognizes the stopping of driving of the edgeapplication server from which the service is currently being received,the relocation of application context may be triggered.

According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 maydetermine a T-EAS in which the application context will be relocated atstep 302.

According to various embodiments, the subject that determines therelocation of application context may be the terminal 51.

According to an embodiment, the terminal 51 may use an EDN service areaincluded in EDN configuration information (configuration data), such acell list, a tracking area list, and a network identifier of an operator(PLMN ID), in order to use the edge computing service.

According to an embodiment, as the EDN configuration information,initial configuration information received in initial access to the EDNconfiguration server may be used to utilize the edge computing serviceby the user device 50.

According to various embodiments, the user device may make a request forconfiguration information to the EDN configuration server 30, receivethe configuration information, and use the same at step 302 of FIG. 3A.

According to another embodiment, when information on the edgeapplication server executed in an edge hosting environment of a specificedge enabler server is stored in the EDN configuration server, the userdevice 50 may determine a T-EAS in the user device 50 through the step.

According to various embodiments, the subject of the operation is notlimited to the EEC 52 of the user device 50. All subjects within theuser device 50 capable of using the information may perform theoperation.

According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 maytransmit a request for relocating application context to thetransmission T-EES 200 at step 304.

The request for relocating the application context transmitted from theEEC 52 to the determined T-EAS may include the following information.

(1) Application information (for example, application ID): informationfor determining an edge application server for serving an applicationused by the user device 50 and information that can be used fordetermining a T-EAS may be included in the corresponding request.

(2) S-EAS information (for example, a fully qualified domain name (FQDN)or IP address) conventionally connected to the user device 50 may beincluded.

(3) UE information (for example, UE ID or UE IP address) may beincluded. UE information may include all pieces of information foridentifying a UE within the edge computing system or the edge enablerserver. An identifier separately defined or allocated within the edgecomputing system may be used. UE location information may be provided asnecessary.

(4) Registration context for the S-EES of the EEC may be included. Allpieces of information that can be used for registration in the T-EAS maybe included in registration context and transmitted.

The T-EES 200 may determine a T-EAS in which the application context isrelocated and transmit a request for relocating the application contextto the T-EAS 201 at step 306.

The T-EES 200 may determine a T-EAS in which the application context isrelocated on the basis of the following information.

(1) application ID and

(2) whether the edge application for serving the application of the userdevice 50 is executed within the edge hosting environment

When the edge enabler server receives the request for relocating theapplication context from the user device 50, the corresponding edgeapplication server may not be being executed. Not executing the edgeapplication server by the edge enabler server may mean that the edgeapplication server exists within the edge computing platform but is notexecuted. In this case, the edge enabler server may execute the relevantedge application server for edge computing service continuity in theedge hosting environment and transmit the request for relocating theapplication context to the executed edge application server.

The edge enabler server does not execute the edge application serverrequested from the user device 50 and the execution may be not possiblein the future. In this case, the edge enabler server may determine thatthe relocation of application context is not possible.

The edge enabler server may transmit a request for relocating theapplication context including information to the T-EAS on the basis ofthe determination, such as:

(1) UE information and

(2) S-EAS information (e.g., information on the edge application serverproviding the conventional user device may be provided).

According to various embodiments, the T-EAS 201 may determine whetherthe application context can be relocated and transmit a response theretoto the target edge enable server 200 at step 308, The T-EAS 201 maydetermine whether to relocate the application context on the basis ofcomputing resources and whether the execution continues in the future.

When the relocation of application context is approved, target edgeapplication information (for example, FQDN or IP address) needed toreceive transmission of the application context and whether to approvethe same may be transmitted to the T-EES 200.

According to various embodiments, the T-EES 200 may inquire the S-EES100 and/or the S-EAS 101 about whether to relocate the applicationcontext at step 310.

The T-EES 200 may transmit a query related to the relocation ofapplication context to the S-EAS 101.

According to an embodiment, the T-EES may make a request for preparingthe freezing and relocation of application context to the S-EAS 101.

According to an embodiment, UE information for specifying a UEcorresponding to the relocation of application context may be providedto the S-EAS 101 through the procedure. Alternatively, the operation maybe performed through provision of an application ID.

According to various embodiments, a message of the procedure may bedirectly transmitted from the T-EES 200 to the S-EAS 101, and may betransmitted to the S-EAS 101 via the S-EES 100.

According to various embodiments, the S-EAS 101 may transmit a responseto the query about the relocation of the application context to theT-EES 200 at step 312.

According to an embodiment, the S-EAS 101 may identify the applicationcontext relocated in the T-EES 200 and perform a preparation step fortransmission (for example, freezing the application context andsynchronizing with the application client of the user device 50).

According to an embodiment, when the application has no context to berelocated due to a stateless characteristic, the S-EAS 101 may insertthe fact into a response and transmit the response to the T-EES 200.

According to an embodiment, the subject and the order performing step310 and step 312 in which the query about whether to relocate theapplication context and the response is transmitted are not limited tothe situation. After determining the relocation of application context,the EEC may directly transmit the query to the S-EAS. According toanother embodiment, the result of the response to the query may bereflected in the determination of the relocation of application contextby transmitting the query before the EEC determines the relocation ofapplication context. The following application context relocationcommand may be performed without steps 310 and 312.

According to various embodiments, the T-EES 200 may transmit theapplication context relocation command to the S-EES 100 and/or the S-EAS101 at step 314.

According to an embodiment, the application context relocation may beindicated while information on the T-EAS 201 is transmitted to the S-EAS101. According to an embodiment, if UE information or applicationinformation is not provided to the S-EAS-101 through step 310, the twopieces of information may be inserted into a command message andtransmitted to specify an application to be relocated at step 314.

According to an embodiment, the corresponding command may be transmittedto the S-EAS 101 via the S-EES 100.

According to various embodiments, the T-EES 200 may transmit anapplication context relocation response to the EEC 52 of the user device50 at step 316.

According to an embodiment, whether to relocate the application contextand information on the T-EAS 201 may be transmitted to the EEC 52. Theinformation on the T-EAS may be used for routing application datatraffic after the application context is completely relocated.

According to various embodiments, the S-EAS 101 may transmit theapplication context to the T-EAS 201 at step 318.

According to an embodiment, the S-EAS 101 may transmit the applicationcontext to the T-EAS 201.

According to an embodiment, the application context may be transmittedvia the source/target enabler servers 100 and 200 or may be directlytransmitted to the T-EAS 201.

According to an embodiment, the transmission of the application contextis not necessarily performed by the S-EAS 101. When the applicationcontext is stored in the user device 50, the EEC may directly transmitthe application context stored in the user device 50 to the T-EAS 201.When the transmission of the application context between the S-EAS 101and the T-EAS 201 is not possible, the application context may betransmitted by the EEC 52. A procedure in which the EEC 52 stores theapplication context from the S-EES 100 and the S-EAS 101 andregistration context for the S-EES 100 in advance or receives the samethrough a request may be preceded.

According to an embodiment, the T-EAS 201 may provide acknowledgementindicating successful transmission of the application context to theS-EAS 101. Accordingly, the S-EAS 101 may identify whether theapplication context is successfully transmitted and trigger an operationfor releasing context or resources for the corresponding application.

According to various embodiments, the S-EAS 101 may transmit anapplication context relocation complete notification message to theS-EES 100 at step 320 a. The S-EAS 101 may transmit the fact that theapplication context is completely relocated to the user device 50 andreroute application data traffic at step 320 a.

According to an embodiment, when there is no direct reference interfacebetween the S-EAS 101 and the EEC 52, transmission of the correspondingnotification may be performed via the S-EES 100 at steps 320 a and 320b. The notification may be directly transmitted from the S-EAS 101 tothe EEC 52. Further, steps 320 a and 320 b may be transmitted to the EEC52 via the S-EES 100 and the T-EES 200. In this case, step 316 b may beperformed immediately before step 322.

According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 mayperform application data traffic rerouting at step 322. According to anembodiment, application data traffic generated by the edge applicationclient may be routed to the T-EAS 201 in which the application contextis completely relocated. Rerouting of the corresponding application datatraffic may be directly performed by the S-EAS 101 rather than the EEC52 through a predetermined network function of the 3GPP system (forexample, AF influence on traffic routing). In this case, step 320 oftransmitting the application context relocation complete notificationmessage may not be performed. According to another embodiment, for theapplication context relocation complete notification, the S-EES 100 mayperform the application data traffic routing through a method such as AFinfluence on traffic routing.

FIG. 4 is a signal flowchart illustrating a process in which an S-EESrelocates application context in an S-EAS, according to an embodiment.

According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 maydetermine (identify) a need for the relocation of application context atstep 400.

According to an embodiment, the subject for triggering the relocation ofapplication context within the user device 50 is not limited to the EEC52. The EDN service area and UE location information may be used, andall entities within the user device 50 capable of interworking with theedge enabler server through an edge enabler layer may trigger therelocation of application context.

According to an embodiment, an example of a method of determiningwhether the relocation of application context is needed by the EEC 52within the user device 50 is described below.

According to an embodiment, whether to trigger the relocation ofapplication context may be determined through comparison between the EDNservice and the UE location information.

According to another embodiment, when the user device escapes the EDNservice area, the relocation of application context may be triggered.

According to another embodiment, when a possibility of escaping from theEDN service area is detected before the escaping, the relocation ofapplication context may be triggered.

According to another embodiment, when deterioration of a QoS of edgecomputing which is provided to the user device is detected, therelocation of application context may be triggered, Triggering therelocation of the application context is for reception of the servicefrom another edge application server.

According to another embodiment, when the stopping of execution of theedge application server which serves the user device 50 is recognized,the relocation of application context may be triggered.

According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 maydetermine a T-EES in which the application context is relocated throughstep 402.

The EEC 52 may identify whether the user device is within the datanetwork service area by using the EDN service area included EDNconfiguration information (configuration data), such as a cell list, atracking area list, and a network identifier of an operator (public LANmobile network (PLMN) ID), in order to use the edge computing service.

According to an embodiment, the EDN configuration information may useinitial configuration information received in initial access to the EDNconfiguration server 30 to use the edge computing service by the userdevice 50.

According to another embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 2,configuration information may be received from the EDN configurationserver 30 through a request and used.

According to another embodiment, when information on an edge applicationserver executed in an edge hosting environment of a specific edgeenabler server is stored within the EDN configuration server 30, a T-EASmay be determined within the user device 50 through the step.

According to various embodiments, the subject of step 402 is not limitedto the EEC 52. All entities within the user device 50 capable of usingthe information may perform the operation.

According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 maytransmit a request for relocating application context to the S-EES 100.

The EEC 52 may transmit the request for relocating the applicationcontext to the determined S-EES 100, and the corresponding request mayinclude the following information.

(1) Application information (for example, application ID) may beincluded. The application information may be information for determiningan edge application server serving an application used by the userdevice 50. In addition to the application information, information thatcan be used for determining a T-EAS may be included in the correspondingrequest.

(2) S-EAS information (for example, FQDN or IP address) conventionallyconnected to the terminal may be included.

(3) UE information (for example, UE ID or UE IP address) may beincluded. According to an embodiment, all pieces of information foridentifying a UE within the edge computing system or the edge enablerserver may be included. An identifier separately defined or allocatedwithin the edge computing system may be used. UE location informationmay also be provided as necessary.

(4) T-EES information (for example, endpoint address such as a uniformresource identifier (URI)) may be included.

According to an embodiment, all pieces of information that help the EEC52 to specify a T-EES may be included, According to an embodiment, whenthe EEC cannot provide the endpoint address of the T-EES, informationfor specifying the target EDN (for example, target EDN ID and UElocation information) may be provided instead. Accordingly, the S-EESmay specify the T-EES.

According to various embodiments, the S-EES 100 may inquire the S-EAS101 about whether to relocate application context at step 406.

According to an embodiment, the S-EES 100 may transmit a query relatedto the relocation of application context to the S-EAS 101.

According to an embodiment, a query message may make a request forperforming a preparation step of freezing and relocating the applicationcontext for the corresponding UE to the S-EAS 101.

According to an embodiment, the S-EES 100 may provide UE information tothe S-EAS 101 to specify application context for the corresponding UErequired to be relocated. The S-EES 100 may perform step 406 byproviding an application ID.

According to various embodiments, the S-EES 101 may transmit a responseto the relocation of the application context to the S-EES 100 at step408.

According to an embodiment, the application context, which is receivedfrom the S-EES 100 and is to be relocated, may be identified and apreparation step for transmission (for example, freezing the applicationcontext and synchronizing with the application client of the user device50) may be performed.

According to an embodiment, when the application has no context to berelocated due to a stateless characteristic, the fact may be insertedinto a response transmitted to the S-EES 100 and the response may betransmitted.

According to an embodiment, the subject and the order of performing step406 and step 408 in which the query about whether to relocate theapplication context and the response is transmitted are not limited tothe situation. According to an embodiment, after determining therelocation of the application context, the EEC 52 may directly transmitthe query to the S-EAS 101. According to another embodiment, the resultof the response to the query may be reflected in the determination ofthe relocation of application context by transmitting the query beforethe EEC 52 determines the relocation of the application context.According to another embodiment, an application context relocationcommand may be transmitted without steps 406 and 408.

According to various embodiments, the S-EES 100 may transmit a requestfor relocating the application context to the T-EES 200 at step 410.

The request at step 410 may include the following information.

(1) Application information (for example, application ID) may beincluded. Information for determining an edge application server whichcan serve an application used by the user device 50 may be included.

(2) S-EAS information (for example, FQDN or IP address) conventionallyconnected to the user device 50 may be included.

(3) UE information (for example, UE ID or UE IP address) may beincluded.

(4) Registration context for the conventional S-EES of the EEC may beincluded.

According to an embodiment, all pieces of information that can be usedfor registration in the T-EES may be included in registration context.

According to various embodiments, the T-EES 200 may determine an edgeapplication server in which the application is relocated and transmitthe request for relocating the application context to the correspondingT-EAS 201 at step 412.

According to an embodiment, the T-EES 200 may determine a (T-EAS) inwhich the application context is relocated on the basis of the followinginformation.

(1) Application ID may be included and (2) Whether to execute the edgeapplication for serving an application of the user device within an edgehosting environment may be included.

According to an embodiment, the request for relocating the applicationcontext including information may be transmitted to the determinedT-EAS. (1) UE information may be included. (2) S-EAS information (edgeapplication server providing the service to the conventional terminal)may be included.

According to various embodiments, the T-EAS 201 may determine whetherthe relocation of application context is possible and transmit aresponse thereto to the T-EES 200.

According to an embodiment, the T-EAS 201 may determine whether torelocate the application context on the basis of computing resources andwhether execution continues in the future.

According to an embodiment, when the relocation of application contextis approved, the T-EAS 201 may transmit target edge applicationinformation (for example, FQDN or IP address) required for receiving theapplication context and whether to approve the relocation to the T-EES200.

According to various embodiments, the T-EES 200 may transmit anapplication context relocation response to the S-EES 100 at step 416.According to an embodiment, whether to relocate the application contextand T-EAS information may be transmitted to the S-EES 100.

According to various embodiments, the S-EES 100 may transmit anapplication context relocation command to the S-EAS 101 at step 418.

According to an embodiment, the application context relocation may beindicated while the edge application server information is transmittedto the S-EAS 101.

According to an embodiment, if UE information or application informationis not provided to the S-EES 101 through step 406, the two pieces ofinformation may be inserted into a command message and transmitted tospecify an application to be relocated at step 418.

According to various embodiments, the S-EES 100 may transmit theapplication context relocation response to the EEC 52 of the user device50 at step 420.

According to various embodiments, the S-EAS 101 may transmit applicationcontext to the T-EAS 201 at step 422.

According to an embodiment, the application context may be transmittedvia the source/T-EESs or may be directly transmitted to the T-EAS.

According to an embodiment, the transmission of the application contextis not necessarily performed by the S-EAS 101. When the applicationcontext is stored in the user device 50, the EEC 52 may directlytransmit the application context stored in the user device 50 to theT-EAS 201.

According to another embodiment, when the application context cannot betransmitted between the S-EAS 101 and the T-EAS 201, the applicationcontext may be transmitted via the edge enabler servers 100 and 200. Asdescribed above, a procedure in which the EEC 52 stores the applicationcontext from the S-EES 100 and the source application server 101 andregistration context for the S-EES 100 in advance or receives the samethrough a request may be preceded.

According to another embodiment, the T-EAS 201 may provideacknowledgement indicating successful transmission of the applicationcontext to the S-EAS 101. Accordingly, the S-EES 101 may identifywhether the application context is successfully transmitted and triggeran operation for releasing context or resources for the correspondingapplication.

According to various embodiments, the S-EAS 101 may transmit anapplication context relocation complete notification message to theS-EES 100 and/or the EEC 52.

According to various embodiments, the S-EES 101 may transmit anapplication context relocation complete notification to the S-EES 100and/or the T-EES 200 (101→100→200). The case will be described withreference to FIG. 3B.

FIG. 3B is a signal flowchart illustrating a process in which an S-EAStransmits an application context relocation complete notification to auser device, according to an embodiment.

Prior to referring to FIG. 3B, FIGS. 3A and 3B have a difference atsteps 340 to 344 corresponding to a dotted line part illustrated in FIG.3B. Referring to FIG. 3B, a procedure no. 9 (step 316 of FIG. 3A) may beperformed through a combination with the application context relocationcomplete notification right after step 318 of FIG. 3A. In FIG. 3B, thestep is divided into step 340 and step 342. In this case, edgeapplication context transmitted at step 340 (step 318 of FIG. 3A) istransmitted before step 342 (step 320 of FIG. 3A) along with theapplication context relocation complete notification. When communicationbetween the EEC 52 and the S-EES 100 is not possible, the S-EAS 101and/or the S-EES 100 may indirectly transmit the application contextrelocation complete notification and the T-EAS information to the EEC 52via the T-EES 200 at step 344.

According to an embodiment, the application context relocationcompletion is transmitted to the user device 50 and application datatraffic may be rerouted to the user device 50.

According to an embodiment, when there is no direct reference interfacebetween the S-EAS 101 and the EEC 52, transmission of the correspondingnotification may be performed via the S-EES 100 at steps 424 a and 424b. Further, steps 424 a and 424 b may be transmitted to the EEC 52 viathe S-EES 100 and the T-EES 200. According to another embodiment, whenthere is a direct reference interface between the S-EAS 101 and the EEC52, the S-EAS 101 may perform direct transmission to the EEC 52.

According to various embodiments, the EEC 52 of the user device 50 mayperform application data traffic rerouting at step 426.

According to an embodiment, application data traffic generated by theedge application client may be routed to the T-EAS 201 in which theapplication context is completely relocated.

According to an embodiment, routing of the corresponding applicationdata traffic may be directly performed by the S-EAS 101 rather than theEEC 52 through a 3GPP system network function (for example, applicationfunction (AF) influence on traffic routing). In this case, the step oftransmitting the application context relocation complete notification ofstep 424 may not be performed. According to another embodiment, theS-EES 100 receiving the application context relocation completenotification may perform the application data traffic routing through amethod such as AF influence on traffic routing.

The embodiments described above may include an operation in which theedge enabler server makes a final decision and transmitting anapplication context relocation command to the S-EAS. However, in thedisclosure, the subject for transmitting the final application contextrelocation command to the S-EAS is not limited to the edge enablerserver 100. The T-EES 200 may directly transmit the application contextrelocation command to the S-EES 101.

The term “module” used herein may represent, for example, a unitincluding one or more combinations of hardware, software and firmware.The term “module” may be interchangeably used with the terms “logic”,“logical block”, “part” and “circuit”. The “module” may be a minimumunit of an integrated part or may be a part thereof. The “module” may bea minimum unit for performing one or more functions or a part thereof.For example, the “module” may include an ASIC

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented bysoftware including an instruction stored in a machine-readable storagemedia readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). The machine may be adevice that calls the instruction from the machine-readable storagemedia and operates depending on the called instruction and may includethe electronic device. When the instruction is executed by theprocessor, the processor may perform a function corresponding to theinstruction directly or using other components under the control of theprocessor. The instruction may include a code generated or executed by acompiler or an interpreter. The machine-readable storage media may beprovided in the form of non-transitory storage media, Here, the term“non-transitory”, as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself(i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on datastorage persistency.

A method according to various embodiments disclosed in the presentdisclosure may be provided as a part of a computer program product. Thecomputer program product may be traded between a seller and a buyer as aproduct. The computer program product may be distributed in the form ofmachine-readable storage medium (e.g., a compact disc read only memory(CD-ROM)) or may be distributed only through an application store (e.g.,a Play Store™). In the case of online distribution, at least a portionof the computer program product may be temporarily stored or generatedin a storage medium such as a memory of a manufacturer's server, anapplication store's server, or a relay server.

Each component (e.g., the module or the program) according to variousembodiments may include at least one of the above components, and aportion of the above sub-components may be omitted, or additional othersub-components may be further included. Alternatively or additionally,some components may be integrated in one component and may perform thesame or similar functions performed by each corresponding componentsprior to the integration. Operations performed by a module, aprogramming, or other components according to various embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be executed sequentially, in parallel,repeatedly, or in a heuristic method. Also, at least some operations maybe executed in different sequences, omitted, or other operations may beadded.

While the disclosure has been shown and described with reference tocertain embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the scopeof the disclosure should not be defined as being limited to theembodiments, but should be defined by the appended claims andequivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of relocating application context by anedge enabler client (EEC) in an edge computing system, the methodcomprising: determining, by the EEC, whether the application contextshould be relocated by detecting that a user equipment UE has moved oris expected to move outside of a service area of a serving edgeapplication server (EAS); transmitting a context relocation request to asource edge enabler server (S-EES), based on the determination;receiving a context relocation response message indicating completion ofthe context relocation from the S-EES; and rerouting application datatraffic, based on the context relocation response message.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the context relocation request includes at least onepiece of UE information including at least one of a UE identifier (ID)or an Internet protocol (IP) address, source edge application server(S-EAS) information including a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of anS-EAS, an application ID served by the S-EAS, and target edge enablerserver (T-EES) information including an endpoint address.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein the T-EES information is acquired from an edge datanetwork (EDN) configuration server.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinthe context relocation response message includes target edge applicationserver (T-EAS) information.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein detectingthat the UE has moved or is expected to move outside of the service areais based on location information of the UE including the EEC and servicearea information for an edge data network (EDN), an edge enabler server(EES), or an edge application server.
 6. A user equipment (UE) forrelocating application context in an edge computing system, the UEcomprising: one or more edge application clients configured to perform aclient function of a service in an edge computing system; an edgeenabler client (EEC) configured to provide an edge computing service tothe one or more edge application clients; and a mobile terminal (MT)configured to communicate with the edge computing system through amobile communication network, wherein the EEC is configured to:determine whether the application context should be relocated bydetecting that the UE has moved or is expected to move outside of aservice area of the serving edge application server (EAS), transmit acontext relocation request to a source edge enabler server through theMT, based on the determination, receive a context relocation responsemessage indicating completion of the context relocation from the sourceedge enabler server through the MT, and reroute application datatraffic, based on the context relocation response message.
 7. The UE ofclaim 6, wherein the context relocation request includes at least onepiece of UE information including at least one of a UE identifier (ID)or an Internet protocol (IP) address, source edge application server(S-EAS) information including a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of anS-EAS, an application ID served by the S-EAS, and target edge enablerserver (T-EES) information including an endpoint address.
 8. The UE ofclaim 7, wherein the T-EES information is acquired from an edge datanetwork (EDN) configuration server.
 9. The UE of claim 6, wherein thecontext relocation response message includes target edge applicationserver (T-EAS) information.
 10. The UE of claim 6, wherein detectingthat the UE has moved or is expected to move outside of the service areais based on location information of the UE including the EEC and servicearea information for an edge data network (EDN), an edge enabler server(EES), or an edge application server.
 11. A method of relocatingapplication context for an application service provided to a userequipment (UE) by a source edge enabler server (S-EES) in an edgecomputing system, the method comprising: receiving a context relocationrequest for the application service from an edge enabler client (EEC) ofthe UE; transmitting the application context relocation request to atarget edge enabler server (T-EES); receiving an application contextrelocation response including target edge application server (T-EAS)information from the T-EES; transmitting an application contextrelocation command including the T-EAS information to a source edgeapplication server (S-EAS) providing the application service to the UE;transmitting the application context to the T-EAS through the T-EES whenthe application context is received from the S-EAS; and transmitting acontext relocation completion notification to the EEC of the UE when theapplication context relocation completion notification is received fromthe S-EAS.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the application contextrelocation request includes at least one piece of UE informationincluding at least one of a UE identifier (ID) or an Internet protocol(IP) address, source edge application server (S-EAS) informationincluding a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of an S-EAS, anapplication ID served by the S-EAS, and T-EES information including anendpoint address.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the applicationcontext relocation request includes UE information, S-EAS information,an application identifier (ID), and registration context for the S-EESof the EEC.
 14. A method of relocating application context for anapplication service provided to a user equipment (UE) by a source edgeapplication server (S-EAS) in an edge computing system, the methodcomprising: receiving an application context relocation command for anapplication provided to the UE from a source edge enabler server(S-EES), based on a determination to relocate the application context byan edge enabler client (EEC), the context relocation command includingtarget edge application server (T-EAS) information; transmitting theapplication context for the application service to the T-EAS through theS-EES; and transmitting a context relocation completion notification tothe S-EES.
 15. A method of relocating application context for anapplication service provided to a user equipment (UE) by a target edgeenabler server (T-EES) in an edge computing system, the methodcomprising: receiving a first application context relocation request forthe UE from a source edge enabler server (S-EES), based on adetermination to relocate the application context by an edge enablerclient (EEC); determining a target edge application server (T-EAS),based on the received first application context relocation request forthe UE; transmitting a second application context relocation request forthe UE to the determined T-EAS; receiving an application contextrelocation response from the T-EAS; and transmitting the applicationcontext relocation response to the S-EES.
 16. The method of claim 15,wherein the first application context relocation request includes atleast one piece of UE information including at least one of a UEidentifier (ID) or an Internet protocol (IP) address, source edgeapplication server (S-EAS) information including a fully qualifieddomain name (FQDN) of an S-EAS, an application ID served by the S-EAS,and T-EES information including an endpoint address.
 17. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the second application context relocation requestincludes at least one piece of UE information, including at least one ofa UE identifier (ID) or an Internet protocol (IP) address and sourceedge application server (S-EAS) information including a fully qualifieddomain name (FQDN) of an S-EAS.
 18. A method of relocating applicationcontext for an application client by a user equipment (UE) having theapplication client and an edge enabler client (EEC) in an edge computingsystem, the method comprising: determining, by the EEC, whether theapplication context should be relocated; determining a target edgeenabler server (T-EES) identifier (ID) when application contextrelocation is needed; transmitting a context relocation requestincluding source edge application server (S-EAS) information to a T-EES,based on the determination, and receiving a response from the T-EES. 19.The method of claim 18, wherein the application client determineswhether the application context should be relocated.
 20. The method ofclaim 18, wherein the T-EES ID is determined based on initial accessinformation or information acquired from an edge configuration server(ECS).
 21. The method of claim 18, wherein the EEC determines the T-EESID.
 22. A user equipment (UE) for relocating application context in anedge computing system, the UE comprising: one or more edge applicationclients configured to perform a client function of a service in the edgecomputing system; an edge enabler client (EEC) configured to provide anedge computing service to the one or more application clients; and amobile terminal (MT) configured to communicate with the edge computingsystem through a mobile communication network, wherein the applicationclient is configured to determine whether the application context shouldbe relocated, and wherein the EEC is configured to determine a targetedge enabler server (T-EES) identifier (ID) when application contextrelocation is needed, transmit a context relocation request to the T-EESthrough the MT, based on the determination, and receive responseinformation from the T-EES.
 23. The UE of claim 22, wherein the T-EES IDis determined based on initial access information (provisioninformation) or information acquired from an edge configuration server(ECS).
 24. A method of relocating application context for an applicationservice provided to a user equipment (UE) from a target edge enablerserver (T-EES) in an edge computing system, the method comprising:receiving a first context relocation request including source edgeapplication server (S-EAS) information from an edge enabler client (EEC)of the UE; transmitting a second context relocation request including UEinformation to a target edge application server (T-EAS) for providing anapplication; transmitting a third context relocation request to a sourceedge enabler server (S-EES) when a response corresponding to approval ofthe relocation is received from the T-EAS; receiving a response to thethird context relocation request from the S-EES; transmitting receivedapplication context to the T-EAS when the application context isreceived from the S-EES; and transmitting a context relocation responseto the EEC.